Government will not appeal the Allard medical pot ruling: Philpott

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott says the government has decided not to appeal the Allard v. Canada decision – a February federal court ruling that allows for patients to grow their own medical marijuana.

“We will not be appealing the court’s decision,” Philpott announced to reporters Thursday.

“We will respect the decision of the federal court and as such we are now in a situation where we have responsibility to address the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations and they will be amended accordingly in order to address the concerns of the court.”

Today was the deadline to file an appeal.

Philpott didn’t go into specifics and said it’s too early to say what kind of regulations will be put in place, but said the overall goals will be to deal with affordability and access of medical marijuana.

“Until such time as the amendments are put in place, the [MMPR] will remain in effect,” she added. “If people have an injunction that allows them to grow for medical purposes, those with an injunction will continue to be able to use that. Otherwise the licensed producers are the only organizations allowed to produce medical marijuana under these regulations.”

The court had struck down the previous Conservative government’s regulations restricting access to medical marijuana, and gave the new Liberal government until August 24th to create new rules so that patients can grow their own at home. This will occur separately from the government’s commitment to legalizing marijuana.

The Federal Court had ruled in B.C. that the plaintiffs had their section 7 Charter rights infringed upon by the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) regulatory regime.